West Virginia UniversityLibraries Interim Dean Karen Diaz is among 17 top academic library directors selected as Library Senior Fellows at UCLA for fall 2018. The international cohort will travel to UCLA in August for a three-week residential program featuring lectures, guest speakers, case studies and field trips.

“I’m delighted to welcome this distinguished group of accomplished library managers to the Senior Fellows program,” said Brian E. C. Schottlaender, director of the Library Senior Fellows program at UCLA. “Through the competitive selection process, these individuals have demonstrated that they are part of the next generation of library leaders in the academic world.”

Library Senior Fellows at UCLA combines management perspectives, strategic thinking and practical and theoretical approaches to the issues confronting academic institutions and their libraries. Of some 250 alumni, nearly half have gone on to positions as library directors. The program is a collaborative effort of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS), the UCLA Library and Ithaka S+R.

Diaz’s selection as a Library Senior Fellow comes as no surprise to WVU Provost Joyce McConnell.

“Karen is already a valuable leader on campus, a forward thinker and a consensus-builder,” McConnell said. “We are proud to see her recognized with this opportunity. I know she will use what she learns at UCLA to enhance the already tremendous resources that the WVU Libraries offer our campus community.”

“I am honored by the support from Provost McConnell and Associate Provost John Campbell and equally honored to have been selected for this excellent opportunity,” Diaz said.

Diaz looks forward to building relationships with other participants and faculty who will be important to her in her work at WVU Libraries.

“Library Senior Fellows provides tremendous opportunities to gain strategic and innovative insights around so many topics of relevance to library deans including budgeting, fundraising, overseeing and supporting special collections, managing an increasingly digital scholarly communication ecosystem, and more. The chance to get away with a group of experts and delve deeply and intensively on these issues is such a great opportunity and I am so thankful for it,” Diaz said.